Paperchase
by PlaidButterfly
Summary: Utterly shameless FemShep/Garrus fluff, post-Arrival.


"…Yes, Anderson has already briefed her but I believe Udina requested that she meet with the Council directly. When she docked into the Citadel, I ask that she meet us here – "

"Well, where _is_ she?"

"She's right behind –" The intern paused, turning around. "Oh. …well, Shepard _was_ right behind me."

The small gaggle of low-level politicians gave a collective sigh as the crowd milling around the Presidium yielded nothing. Fortunately, they did not notice how a red-haired woman in blue-and-black armor had dashed down a side corridor to one of the wards, then how she had slipped in an alleyway into a large apartment.

"Delia!" The other woman in the apartment turned to stare at her, as did the eight children crowded around the table. Their teacher gave a nervous laugh. "When I said that you should come visit me, I didn't mean while I was _working_."

Shepard gave a crooked smile. "Well, you said to come visit, yeah?" She held out her arms for a hug, and the other woman shook her head and gave her one. "I promise I won't get in the way. No guns, see?"

"I didn't realize you were brave enough to come here now, though. I remember you making faces whenever anyone mentioned growing up and having kids."

"Yeah, but you were right there with me," Shepard teased back.

The small gaggle of children had gotten up from their low table, now; almost all were human, with the occasional asari. They clustered around the two women, peering up at them. "Missus Nashira?" One of them questioned, pulling a face.

"Oh!" Smiling, she turned around before addressing the children. "Everyone, this is one of my old friends. We grew up on the same starship, because our parents were in the navy, just like yours," she said cheerfully, reaching down to poke the nose of a freckly-faced boy, making him giggle. "Her name is Delia Shepard. Say hi, all right?"

"Hi, Missus Shepard!" The children chorused.

And the soldier shifted nervously, her heavy armor making a solid clunk. "Uh… hey." She was used to dealing with collectors, mercenaries, and everything else the universe had thrown at her… but little kids were still somewhat terrifying. "So, what're you guys up to?"

"We were drawing," Nashira explained patiently. "Since we finished up our arithmetic problems early."

"I have good timing, then," Shepard said with a grin. Awkwardly, she sat down on the floor, the children parting and then flocking back to her. "So what're we drawing?"

"Our families an' our houses," an asari girl said excitedly, pulling up her drawing to show the crayon scribble to Shepard.

"Well, the assignment is to make something nice for people we love," Nashira reminded gently in a decidedly motherly tone. "…but you can draw whatever you like."

"No, that sounds good." She smiled at the children, pulling over a piece of paper and a box of crayons. As she started drawing a large grey oval, she frowned a little. The children watched her closely before seeing that her artistic talent wasn't that much greater than theirs.

"Missus Shepard?"

"Yeah?" The smile made her significantly less scary to them, despite the bulky armor.

"My mommy says you were dead."

"I got better," she answered with a grin.

"But she says you're biggest hero ever," the small asian girl continued.

"Well. I didn't get better from that part." Their teacher laughed, but the group of children seemed momentarily confused.

"Whassat?" One of the children leaned in to stab at the grey oval on her piece of paper.

"Well, that's where I live. A starship called the Normandy."

"My dad says that the Normandy is full'a bad guys from Cerry… Cerryba…" The asari girl frowned deeply.

"You mean Cerberus, Caelia," their teacher explained patiently before looking to Shepard and grimacing. "Her father's a turian, I'm sorry…"

"No, no, it's fine," Shepard said before leaning in to stage-whisper to the girl. "Hey, have your parents ever said that you can't get dessert until you eat all of your gross veggies?" The asari girl nodded. "So you hide them all up in a napkin and make them think you've eaten them? And then you get the largest slice of pie before they can figure it out?"

"You tricked them?"

Shepard nodded, grinning. "Except with a ship, instead of pie."

It took a moment but the girl finally started to giggle, and a firmer feeling of peace settled over the small classroom. The teacher smiled gently before ducking into an alcove, taking a moment to check on any announcements. There was one urgent new update… apparently an alert looking for Shepard. Gingerly, she leaned out to see how Shepard was faring.

"Yeah, that's a really cute kitten! I'm sure your mom will _love_ it."

Smiling, Nashira leaned back in before deleting the alert from her screen.

One of the boys had gotten distracted tapping against her armor, and Shepard was bobbing her head to the rhythm, not objecting to being used as a human drum set.

"Whozzat? He looks like my daddy…"

"So that actually looks like a turian?" Shepard grinned widely. "Awesome, I'm better at this than I thought. Or maybe it's just because people aren't grey, who knows. …his name is Garrus, and I like him a lot."

The children were old enough to latch on to the little bit of a blush that landed on her cheeks. "Do you _like_ –like him?"

"Oooh, is he your boyfriend! My mom says only old people can have boyfriends…"

"What? No, I – " She spluttered a moment, mostly looking up to see Nashira's raised eyebrows. "Well, okay, yeah. I guess you could call him that. I… I really like him," Shepard said patiently. "And when I'm doing hard things, they aren't as hard when I remember that I want to make the universe better for him. And I trust him more than I trust myself most times. I guess you can call that love."

"Yeah, Shepard," their teacher said with a smile, "you can call that love."

The two women shared a smile before Shepard put the finishing touches on the scribbly blue armor.

And the drawing, a crude testament to the fact that N7 training did not include art lessons, remained in her armor, folded into a square, after it was finished. It remained there, tucked close to her heart, as she was lectured by the Council, as she worked through the political ramifications of her answer, as she tailored her dress blues and made sure they were crisply ironed…

Garrus had been with her the night before, of course, but she wanted some time alone, and he respected that. It didn't make the morning any less lonely, knowing that she was on a shuttle heading to Earth to be treated as a criminal. The oddly superstitious part of her had insisted she not be seen in her dress blues until the day of the trial, like an over-anxious bride fussing over her dress. And she had kept good to that promise even as, in the middle of the night, she snuck into Garrus' room and gave him a small kiss on the cheek while he slept.

But now when he opened his eyes he saw the small square of paper next to his head on the cot. It smelled of her, the unique sort of perfume lovers knew of one another. There was a grey oval-like scribble labeled _NORMANDY_ in the corner, and at the bottom, two stick figures: one grey turian in blue armor, holding hands with a woman with bright red hair…

And a familiar handwriting:  
><em>Garrus, this is so you don't forget when I'm away.<br>I love you. –Shepard_

He held the picture for a few long moments before folding it up and tucking it into his armor, close to his heart.


End file.
